Dr. John Greenwood – Australian Surgeon

Every single year, Dr. John Greenwood cares for over 450 acute burn patients. He has created a biodegradable skin graft solution and has changed the way burn patients are being treated.

Dr. Greenwood has been honored for his work with South Australia’s 2016 Australian of the Year Award. He told ABC Adelaide’s Morning program that he was very flattered by the nomination but was left speechless when he received the award. He never thought that someone like him, a surgeon, would receive the award – it was unexpected.

Currently, Greenwood is a medical director and plastic surgeon at the Adult Burns Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. He helps patients in a large area, including people from Northern Territory, South Australia, western Victoria, and western New South Wales.

In 1985, he started studying medicine at the University of Manchester, specializing in chronic wounds management. He then went on to work at the Royal Adelaide Hospital in 2001. However, in 2002 he helped with the aftermath of the Bali terrorist bombing at the burn unit in Darwin. In 2008, he started working as an associate professor at the University of Adelaide School of Medicine.

The masculine name John is a common name in the English-speaking world and is derived from the Latin Iohannes or Ioannes. Both of these names are taken from the Greek name Iōannēs, which is a Hebrew name that mean “Graced by Yah” or “Yahweh is Gracious”. The name is popular in the Persian, Turkic, European and Anglophone countries.